Domestic violence is a pattern of harmful behaviors used to gain power over the thoughts and actions of a partner, loved one, friend, or other individual. While abuse takes many forms depending on the relationship, abusers often control their partners using the following tactics.

Physical abuse

Physical abuse is any intentional act that causes physical trauma to another person, such as looming over a victim, blocking someone’s escape route, grabbing, burning, stabbing, biting, strangling, using weapons, driving recklessly, throwing or breaking things, confinement, and preventing access to medical care or medication.

On average, 24 people per minute are victims of sexual or physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner.

Nearly half of all American women and men experience mental abuse by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse involves any unwanted sexual behavior by one person upon another, such as nonconsensual sexual touching or activity, pressure to engage in sexual activity, prohibiting safe sex practices on purpose, withholding sexual activity as a form of punishment, forcing a partner not to use birth control, forcing pregnancy or abortion, or forcing a partner to participate in pornography.

In 99% of all domestic violence cases, economic abuse contributes to the feeling that a victim cannot escape.

Abuse is not constant. Instead, violence is one stage of a behavioral cycle. Every stage can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few years, and the pattern might look different depending on the relationship.